Old Wartime Beauties

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 111, 13 May 1933, Page 19

Old Wartime Beauties

"Why do all these beautiful women look so delicate, and somehow rather mouse-like? "This was tho question which puzzled me as I wandered round tha exhibition of portraits of nineteenthcentury beauties at the Knoedler Gallery, Bond Street West (states a London writer). "I meant no disrespect to the beau-i ti.ful women when I described them to myself as 'mouse-like,' for they certainly were very lovely. "Their fine eyes, under delicatelydrawn eyebrows, looked down serenely at an admiring group of people, which sometimes included one or two old men, who would sigh and say, 'Ah, I remember her well. She was a handsome woman if there ever was one. You don't see women like her nowadays.' "All the beauties had luxuriant hair, either brushed down smoothly and plaited over the head or drawn back into a bunch of curls. "Yes, they Were lovely, but there was something missing. What was it they lacked? "Then two young society women walked into the gallciy. They were typical beauties of this age. They wore small, tight-fitting black hats, with diamond clips in the front. They had plucked eyebrows and black eyelashes, which contrasted oddly with their fair hair and scarlet lips. "I turned from them to the portraits on the wall, and became aware of what I had missed in those Victorian and Edwardian beauties. They had no make-up on their faces. "Their complexions were pale, their eyelashes were not 'touched up,' and their lips were just a natural pink. Therefore, they lacked that vividness which is the chief charm of the modem woman, and which will often change n comparatively plain girl to a pretty one."